Star M249 Para Examined...

[bri]

try adjsting the brass feed tube thas wat i had to do, it might be to far down.

[blink281aa]

Well, i went ahead and did all these things, and I guess I just wasnt pushing the connector into the side of the gun hard enough. Both the tabs had locked in, but I had to give it a little extra push to get it there.

 

Thanks dan for letting me know about bridging the connections to see if the box was working.

 

Also, does anyone else feel like the box mag attaches to the gun in the wrong place. i feel like it should be slid more to the right, allowing more room for my left arm.

[Jason-Alaska]

Also, does anyone else feel like the box mag attaches to the gun in the wrong place. i feel like it should be slid more to the right, allowing more room for my left arm.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What about the left handed shooters out there?

 

I thought the whole gun was rather awkward till I went prone with it... That's when it fits.

[Warhogg]

I have had two problems with bbs feeding recently.

 

Once, it was the brass tube. It had gotten pushed down into the mag too far and was interfering with the bbs feeding. The problem was fixed easily by pulling up on the brass tube.

 

The second problem was no reaction at all from the feed motor. I tried 'jumping' the connectors and still got nothing. After I took the boxmag apart (including the internals), I noticed a smashed bb had gotten in there. This locked up the whole mechanism, preventing the motor from turning. I put it back together and the thing is shooting like a champ (stock gun).

 

BTW, the boxmag is fairly easy and straight forward to take apart. There are a few small components, but I think the mechanism is actually simpler than a standard High cap mag.

Edited April 14, 2006 by Warhogg

[staticzero]

Quick update, my parts arrived from Star on tuesday (much faster than I expected). My gun is now back to 100% (yay). It only took a week to get the parts after finally getting a response from Star. I still don't know why they never responded to my other emails. Lesson learned though, if you email them about an issue and don't get a response within a couple days, try it again from a different email address.

 

I still have concerns about these parts failing again, but as long as Star continues to be loose with the replacements I'll sleep better. I'd love to see a third party metal trigger and an improved mag winding switch/safety assembly solution available though.

 

Oh, I suppose I should mention that I bought a CA249P on tuesday. I will be working a head-to-head comparison of the two guns in addition to my own analysis of the CA249 individually.

Edited April 15, 2006 by staticzero

[-Dan-]

i got my parts from star in a few days as well, much quicker than i thought. Then a few days after that i got the same parts again? so i now have some spears, which is nice.

 

 

piston pictures

 

 

 

 

when i got my replacement parts from star i took some pictures to show the differences in pistons and cylinder heads. hope this clears things up for you all.

 

 

PISTON ON PISTON

 

above is a stock TM piston (white) and the stock star piston (black). you can see that the pistons are in line on the right hand side, but on the left the white TM piston is wider.

 

 

PISTON ENDS

 

PISTON ENDS TABLE

 

 

in the next two pictures you can see that the TM piston is more round in shape, the star piston is narrower, notice how flat the star piston is on the rails.

 

 

PISTONS FLAT

 

above you can see the pistons flat on the table end to end, you can clearly see that the TM piston is wider than the star piston. although its not much, it is enough for the piston to jam on the rails in the gearbox and bind up the whole gearbox.

 

PISTONS LAST TOOTH

 

in this picture you can see the pistons last tooth. you can see that the TM pistons last tooth is taller (longer) than the star pistons. i have alreaddy filed the TM pistons last tooth. but it needs more befor it will fit into the gearbox.

 

 

you can get an after market piston to fit, but it will need some modification. i have a systema RED POM piston in mine at the moment. the two main things to do is file the last tooth down, untill it is the same size as the stars piston. and make the rail groves deeper. there pretty easy mods, but they do need time and pateints.

 

cylinder head pictures

 

 

next are some pictures of how the cylinder heads differ.

 

 

HEADS SIDE BY SIDE

HEADS TWO

 

in the above pictures you can see two cylinder heads. the black one is the stars cylinder head. and the gold one is a systema version 3 silent cylinder head.

the first thing you will notice is how much longer the air tube is on the star cylinder. next you can see that the star cylinder is also taller than the systema one. also the air nozzels are different sizes.

 

NOZZELS

 

here you can see the two air nozzels. the one on the right is the star nozzel. although the cylinder tubes are different lenghts the air nozzels are the same size. how ever notice the step in the systema nozzel on the left. were as the star nozzel is the smae size all the way down. this means the systema nozzel wii NOT fit into the hop unit.

 

SETS 1

SETS 2

 

Here you can see the two cylinder sets side by side. the first pic shows that the opening for the tappet plate is the same size. the second shows the holes in the side of the cylinder heads. they are pretty much the same size, and the systema cylinder head does fit into the gearbox notches.

 

the same problems with the systema cylinder head are, A) its too short meaning there is a gap between the front of the gearbox and the start of the cylinder. and B ) the air nozzel is a different shape, meaning it will not fit into the hop unit. the star air nozzel will fit on the systema cylinder head, which fixes one problem. how ever i cant think of a suitible fix for the lengh difference of the cylinder. and i would not like to shoot the gun with the systema cylinder head just suported by the gearbox notches, i fear that they would crack off.

 

image 01

 

 

i hope these pictures have helped you to understand the problems involved in fitting a new piston and cylinder head. as i have said you can get an after market piston to fit. however a new cylinder is a bigger problem.

 

Cheers

Dan

Edited April 15, 2006 by -Dan-

[Argo]

Hey guys,

 

I've had my Star M249 for a few days now, and have yet to fire off more than a handful of rounds due to problems.

 

I've read the majority of this thread, but not the entire thing, but I haven't noticed any other posts of similar issues.

 

To start with, when I loaded the gun up, and fired - the box mag wasn't winding. I used a paperclip to touch the contacts with the mag out of the gun, and nothing was happening. Turns out the box mag was jammed.

 

After clearing the jam, and running a few rounds through it paperclip style, I loaded it back in to the gun.

 

Fired off a few rounds, 3-4 came out... And the barrel jammed. Using info from this thread I stripped everything down, cleared out the barrel, cleaned and lubed the hop and barrel, and tried again... And it jammed.

 

I'm using Excel .2's, anyone have any advise?

 

Thanks,

Argo.

[-Dan-]

Hey guys,

 

I've had my Star M249 for a few days now, and have yet to fire off more than a handful of rounds due to problems.

 

I've read the majority of this thread, but not the entire thing, but I haven't noticed any other posts of similar issues.

 

To start with, when I loaded the gun up, and fired - the box mag wasn't winding. I used a paperclip to touch the contacts with the mag out of the gun, and nothing was happening. Turns out the box mag was jammed.

 

After clearing the jam, and running a few rounds through it paperclip style, I loaded it back in to the gun.

 

Fired off a few rounds, 3-4 came out... And the barrel jammed. Using info from this thread I stripped everything down, cleared out the barrel, cleaned and lubed the hop and barrel, and tried again... And it jammed.

 

I'm using Excel .2's, anyone have any advise?

 

Thanks,

Argo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm thats an iteresting one, i've had the problem of the box mag jamming, but never had a problem with bb jamming in the barrel, cant really think of any thing that would cuase this aprt from dodgy BB's or too much hop. excels are good quailty BB's so i cant imagin its them, try turning your hop all the way off.

were did it jam the last time. have you put the hop unit and barrel back correctly?

[Argo]

It jammed before I'd ever taken it apart or had ever adjusted the hop, so I don't think it's a case of being put together wrong or too much hop.

 

While I had it apart, I adjusted the hop while looking down the barrel til I could barely see the rubber nub, just so I knew it was in a decent spot for testing purposes.

 

It's really difficult to tell exactly where the jam is happening in the barrel, I wouldn't like to guess. It's nearer to the hop end than the end of the barrel, though, definitely.

[Wupjak]

I'd start with the easy stuff and turn the hop up all the way off so that the set screw is protruding from the top of the unit.

 

Try firing it like that and see if it jams.

 

If it's not that, I'd wager the plastic air nozzle and the brass cylinder head nozzle are fitted too tightly, resulting in a jam. Remove the mechbox, decompress the spring and push on the black air nozzle. If it doesn't spring /freely/ back to the forward position, that is your problem.

 

That's what the issue was with my gun, and it cost me a piston.

[mario114]

I am considerring getting the para one latter this year, it's a shame it won't take m16 mags, and the trigger is plastic, and the non working cocking lever, but it's a good price. The support rule looks intresting, but I don't want to box mag my m4, I would rather get a proper support gun.

 

Just a quick question is there any noticable differnce between the normall and para versions, and as a top m60 standard isn't that much more expensive, which is the better out of the 2 (or 3 counting both para and normal verisons). Saying that I am not a huge fan of m60's and really like m249's, I don't think I can justify to myslef spending all that money on the ca one, so I think the stgar may be ideal for me.

[xerxes]

Had mine a week now, and apart from the courier smashing the lid of the box mag in transit, everything is spot on!

 

Have put three bags of Excel's finest through it so far, and it's still pounding them out. Sounds like a beast, puts down a lot of fire in a very short space of time, and looks the part.

 

Still can't stop grinning every time I pick it up, brilliant value for money, but doesn't feel cheap at the same time. Can't wait to take it out in the field and abuse it a little!

 

And no, Star didn't pay me to post this... :-P

[Warhogg]

-Dan-

 

you might have a damaged barrel. It could be pinched, bent, or been cut wrong (leaving a place for bbs to get caught).

 

Next time you have the barrel out, inspect both ends for burrs/imperfections. Roll the barrel on a very flat surface and see if it has a 'wobble'.

 

You can also see if you can get bbs to fall through it (or push them with the rod and see if there is any tight spots).

 

good luck.

[-Dan-]

-Dan-

 

you might have a damaged barrel.  It could be pinched, bent, or been cut wrong (leaving a place for bbs to get caught).

 

Next time you have the barrel out, inspect both ends for burrs/imperfections.  Roll the barrel on a very flat surface and see if it has a 'wobble'.

 

You can also see if you can get bbs to fall through it (or push them with the rod and see if there is any tight spots).

 

good luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

Cheers warhog, im sure argo will be thankfull for the information.

[chuBByleprecon]

Quick update, my parts arrived from Star on tuesday (much faster than I expected). My gun is now back to 100% (yay). It only took a week to get the parts after finally getting a response from Star. I still don't know why they never responded to my other emails. Lesson learned though, if you email them about an issue and don't get a response within a couple days, try it again from a different email address.

Im haveing the same problems, I had no idea what it was but the box mag just wouldnt stop winding, I talked to a few people and one suggested I check this and im pretty sure the switch is also whats wrong with mine, but of course star refuses to talk to me...

[staticzero]

Im haveing the same problems, I had no idea what it was but the box mag just wouldnt stop winding, I talked to a few people and one suggested I check this and im pretty sure the switch is also whats wrong with mine, but of course star refuses to talk to me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It may simply be that they aren't getting your email. Try again from a different address, like get a gmail account and try that.

Edited April 20, 2006 by staticzero

[WarMonger]

well my gearbox finally blew apart, thankfully none of the internal parts broke, everything seems to fit well in wild monkey gearbox. The plastic gearbox halves really are quite flimsy when its apart. Cant believe im the only one who's gearbox has broken so far.

[WarMonger]

well my gearbox finally blew apart, thankfully none of the internal parts broke, everything seems to fit well in wild monkey gearbox. The plastic gearbox halves really are quite flimsy when its apart. Cant believe im the only one who's gearbox has broken so far.

[WarMonger]

well my gearbox finally blew apart, thankfully none of the internal parts broke, everything seems to fit well in wild monkey gearbox. The plastic gearbox halves really are quite flimsy when its apart. Cant believe im the only one who's gearbox has broken so far.

[WarMonger]

well my gearbox finally blew apart, thankfully none of the internal parts broke, everything seems to fit well in wild monkey gearbox. The plastic gearbox halves really are quite flimsy when its apart. Cant believe im the only one who's gearbox has broken so far.

[Sure Shot]

Im haveing the same problems, I had no idea what it was but the box mag just wouldnt stop winding, I talked to a few people and one suggested I check this and im pretty sure the switch is also whats wrong with mine, but of course star refuses to talk to me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is the problem I had,I pulled the trigger and the box mag kept winding.Some have posted pictures of the little switch that taps togeather when the trigger is pulled,just look back a few pages.My problem was the switch bent downwards and laid on top of the other connector causing constant contact.

Edited April 20, 2006 by Sure Shot

[chuBByleprecon]

Yea Im fairly sure its something like that because if i mess with the saftey or just that area it will stop, and Staticzero I have used both Hotmail and Gmail accounts now.

[chuBByleprecon]

Yea Im fairly sure its something like that because if i mess with the saftey or just that area it will stop, and Staticzero I have used both Hotmail and Gmail accounts now.

[chuBByleprecon]

edited posted twice

Edited April 20, 2006 by chuBByleprecon

[-Dan-]

well my gearbox finally blew apart, thankfully none of the internal parts broke, everything seems to fit well in wild monkey gearbox. The plastic gearbox halves really are quite flimsy when its apart. Cant believe im the only one who's gearbox has broken so far.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

not the only one. today the two little notches that the cylinder head sit in broke off. this was the part of the gearbox i was most worried about, and it seems my concerns were right. now the gun does not load bb's correctly so they just roll down the barrel and are not fired at all. note i was using the gun with the stock spring in.

 

does the gun need any modifcation to fit the wild monkey gearbox. were did you get yours from.

 

does any one know of were to get one in the UK?